Youth Update: June 13, 2011

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution’s Under-18 and Under-16 teams closed out the regular season last weekend, meeting Oakwood SC in Portland, Conn., on Saturday, June 11, before playing South Central Premier in Bridgeport, Conn., on Sunday, June 12.

With this weekend’s results, the U16s qualified for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs, which will be played later this month in Frisco, Texas, for the second time in as many seasons.

Overall, the youth squads came out of the weekend with a combined 3-1-0 record.

UNDER-18s

The Under-18s suffered a 2-1 loss to Oakwood SC on Saturday. With many players missing because of graduation ceremonies and an MLS Reserve Division game in New York that morning, three U16s played up, and goalkeeper Jose Silva (Northborough, Mass.) started and played the full 90 minutes as a center forward. The Revs opened scoring in the 18th minute when Fabio Machado, Jr. (Leominster, Mass.) finished a cross from Jerry Tamfu (Leominster, Mass.). Oakwood leveled the score in the 30th minute, before netting the go-ahead goal in the 55th.

On Sunday, the U18s shut out South Central Premier, 2-0, in their final game of the regular season. Machado scored his team-high 13th goal in the 16th minute, assisted by Cole DeNormandie (Lincoln, Mass.), whose seven assists on the season is also a team high. DeNormandie then scored a goal of his own in the 36th minute, assisted by Andrew Waddington (Jamestown, R.I.). Goalkeeper Ryan Simpson (North Andover, Mass.) – who entered the game as a substitute in the second half – helped preserve the Revs’ clean sheet by saving a South Central penalty kick in the final minutes of the game.

UNDER-16s

The Under-16s earned a 3-1 victory against Oakwood SC on Saturday. After a scoreless first half, Devin Devoy (North Attleborough, Mass.) – assisted by Peguy Ngatcha (Manchester, N.H.) – put the Revs ahead in the 63rd minute, beating the Oakwood goalkeeper from a tight angle. New England then capitalized on its build-up in the 65th minute, when a series of one-touch passes found Declan McCabe (Weston, Mass.), who put in a cross for a Dominik Machado (Attleborough, Mass.) goal. Federico Ferre (Waltham, Mass.) was then brought down in the box only minutes later, and converted the awarded penalty kick to give the Revs a three-goal lead. Though Oakwood scored a consolation goal in the 72nd minute, the Revs came away with three points on the road and formally qualified for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs, securing their spot in Frisco.

After starting two 1996s (14- or 15-year olds) on Saturday, the Revs put out an even younger lineup on Sunday – two ‘96s and a ’97 – in their 7-0 win against South Central Premier. Back from MLS Reserve Division duty on Saturday, Diego Fagundez (Leominster, Mass.) score two goals – one assisted by Ferre and the other the result of an impressive individual effort – and added three assists in the first half. Matt Bitchell (Byfield, Mass.) also scored a pair of goals. Kevin Herrera (Lynn, Mass.) scored in the 37th minute, giving the Revs a 5-0 lead going into halftime. Ngatcha scored twice in the final 10 minutes of the match, assisted by McCabe in the 70th minute and Christian Sady (North Andover, Mass.) in the 79th, bringing his regular-season total to 13 goals. New England made six substitutions in the second half, and goalkeeper Matthew Mozynski (Bellingham, Mass.) finished the regular-season with his third shutout.

With a loss and a win, the Revolution Under-18 team – now 9-11-6 – finished fourth in the Northeast Division. The Under-16s ended the regular season in second place with a 13-7-6 record. The U16s will next play in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy playoffs in Frisco, Texas, June 24-28, while the U18s will participate in U.S. Soccer’s Showcase in conjunction with the playoffs.